Congratulations to Gabriel Ng, a 2015 Clover Montessori graduate, for attaining GOLD in SwimSafer 2.0¹ program Singapore! To attain this GOLD certification, the swimmer has to posses rigorous water survival and swimming competency skills. Gabriel has started his training in the SwimSafer 2.0 program since he was at Primary 1. His consistency and perseverance have lasted him to work towards the GOLD stage five years later, which is now.
We are glad to be able to get Gabriel to come on an interview with us across the border.
Interview with Gabriel:
CLC: Hi Gabriel,
congratulations for your achievement!
G: Thank you😊
CLC: Did you expect yourself to get the GOLD award?
G: No,
because I saw a lot of swimmers at my swim group are better than me. In fact, I
started to lose confidence in myself when I saw how well the others swim.
CLC: Did anyone
help you along your way to success?
G: Yes. My Coach.
CLC: How did he
help you?
G: He motivated me to
persevere and drilled me. A lot of times when I felt I could not continue, he
would push me to go forward to show the best of my abilities. He really
unlocks my full potential.
CLC: How often did you practice and how long is each
practice session?
G: In the past 5 years, I
practiced during my swimming lesson on a weekly basis. Nowadays, I have to
study for upcoming tests, I would sometimes swim for an hour or two.
CLC：Have you felt like giving up?
G: Yes and no. Yes, because
at times I would face with some challenges during my training – I had to cope
with some situations like training in the heavy rain and cold weather. This
would result in me not able to complete my swim rounds in the designated timing.
On the other hand, I wanted to get the GOLD award so badly and along with my
coach’s constant motivation, I did not give up and moved on.
CLC: What did
you do when you met with difficulties or challenges?
G: I would try to overcome the
difficulties if there were minor situations. If there were major ones, I would
try extra hard like trained myself more and persisted more. I did not usually get help
from other people because I wanted to challenge myself and do it on my own.
CLC: What's the
biggest learning you can take away from this process?
G: Never give up and strive to achieve your
dreams
CLC: Thank you so much for sharing with us! The Clover Teachers are very proud of you. We wish you all the best, do reach for the stars and the sky is your limit!
G: You're welcome!
www.clovers.org.my
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¹ SwimSafer is a national water safety programme in Singapore
introduced in July 2010 by the National Water Safety Council (NWSC), a council
appointed by the then Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports (MCYS).
The SwimSafer programme consists of six
progressive stages, each comprising 12 hours of lesson time. Survival and
activity skills are taught in each stage of the programme, working
progressively toward the next stage.
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